Engineering Test Satellite ETS-VIII was launched December 18, 2006 by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from the Tanegashima Space Center. As is customary with Japanese satellites, it was renamed after launch to Kiku (“listen”) 8. Kiku 8 was a test satellite to enable satellite communications with small terminals.

The satellite had a gross weight of around three tons and a diameter of 40 meters. With its two antennas' reflectors and two solar power paddles, it looks a bit like a percent sign. One antenna's reflector is about the size of a tennis court. It was one of the world’s largest geostationary satellites.

During the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Kiku 8 provided the needed internet access for the afflicted region. But after having completed its 10-year design life, the satellite’s fuel ran low. Unable to control its attitude and orbit, the outdated satellite was moved out of its stationary orbit and ceased to function. Its last transmission was on January 10, 2017.

Putting such a large satellite in orbit is not easy. It required a large booster. Its launch was the first use of the 204 configuration (four strap-on boosters) of the H-IIA launch vehicle. The H-IIA is considered a medium-lift launch vehicle. Even so, it is 174 feet tall and has a diameter of 13 feet. The H-IIA has launched a lunar orbiting spacecraft and an interplanetary space probe to Venus.

The brightest satellite visible tonight is the “H2A R/B” rocket booster that put Kiku 8 into geosynchronous transfer orbit. GTO is a highly elliptical Earth orbit with an apogee of 26,199 miles, or 22,236 miles above sea level, which corresponds to the geostationary altitude. The perigee, or closest approach Earth, is typically only a few hundred kilometers.

Tonight’s pass is bright because the H2A R/B is near its perigee. We will see it just after perigee, while it is moving at high rate of speed, but heading back out to the high end of the orbit. It covers half of the sky in 3 minutes but takes about 8 minutes to cover the other half of the sky as it pulls away from the earth.

H2A R/B rises from the horizon at azimuth 257° (WSW) at 8:52 p.m. and reaches 10° in altitude by 8:53:11 (8:53 and 11 seconds). It moves about twice as far in the next minute and passes into Sextans. In the next minute it slides swiftly between Virgo and Leo, bypassing Jupiter and nearing bright Arcturus. It has taken three minutes to cross half the sky.

From 8:55 to 8:56 H2A R/B is still moving rapidly not too far overhead. It passes through the space between the large constellations of Hercules and Ophiuchus. Then it slows down to about half that speed. It only just makes it close to bright Altair in the east. Altair is the sharp end of the Summer Triangle completed by the two bright stars Vega and Deneb.

Slower and slower it goes, each minute reducing its apparent speed almost by half. You may be able to see H2A R/B for another six minutes. This slow exit is caused by the satellite’s elliptical path drawing away from the earth.

The Eastern Florida State College observatory is open to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. Saturn and Jupiter will be visible in our telescope from about 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., weather permitting.

Bernie Badger is Project Coordinator at the Eastern Florida State College Planetarium in Cocoa. Send questions, suggestions, or comments to badgerb@easternflorida.edu.